(Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan, I am just a fan girl, writing a fan fiction. So none of the characters from the lost hero belong to me except for Rachel and a few others.)

Hi my name is Rachel Hale and my life so far is really boring. Today I had just gotten out of school and was going back to my foster home. I live in a foster home in New York because both my parents died when I was younger. My mom when I was born, and my dad when I was eight. I have been here since some police found me in my house alone with the body of my dad. Nobody has ever paid any attention to me since. Well, except for my friend, Leo Valdez. He also was an orphan. His mom died when he was seven or eight, he didn't tell exactly when, and his dad disappeared before he was born.

Once I got back to the foster home, I put my school stuff on my bed and started my homework. My brown choppy hair was hanging in my face as I bent over trying to read my homework with my dyslexia. All words I looked at looked jumbled up and there were these weird symbols that I think looked liked.... hieroglyphics or Greek?. I don't know. I was able to my homework because I figured out that if the font is big or I put the words close to my face, I could read them.

As I went down to the front desk to sign in, because you have to sign in when you get back from school, I saw a boy walking up the stairs. He had black everything. Jeans, shirt, jacket, shoes, hair, and even his eyes looked black and dang that kid was pale. He looked about 15, but I couldn't tell because he was slouched over with his hair hanging in his face. He looked up at me and I smiled. He quick turned his face away, but before he did I saw him smile and blush wildly. After he disappeared up the stairs, I asked the women at the front desk who he was

"Oh he is new. His older sister died in a car crash, and he is too young to live on his own." she explained to me.

"That's awful. Does he have any friends or family?" I asked

"No, that's why he came here." she said sadly.

"What's his name?" I asked suspiciously.

"Nicolas De Angelo," the woman said."but he said he goes by Nico."

Nico. I liked that name. I thought to myself what he was like, if he was shy or social. I kind of figured he was shy, by the way he blushed at my smile and turned away. I decided to talk to him the next time I saw him.

After I got checked in I went into my room and sat on my bed. I wonder if my life was ever going to change. Then Leo came in.

"Hi Rachel" he said as he sat on my bed. "Whats up?"

"The sky" I told him sarcastically, trying to hide the sorrow in my voice.

"Ha ha. Very funny" he looked up at me and smiled. He knew what I was thinking. He hugged me. "Someday, we will get out of here and and both get apartments and jobs." he said reassuring me, "We could be neighbors."

"Ok" I stood up walked to the door, "Do you wants to go out for lunch? Maybe McDonald's?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Sure!" Leo said as he jumped up from my bed, "Oh, have you met Nico yet?"

"No, I want to though" I said excited, "Have you talked to him?"

"Ya, he's nice guy, but really shy" Leo explained.

"You want to bring him to lunch?"

"Ya, let's go" Leo grabbed his bag on my bed and held the door open for me. When we got down to the front desk, I widened my big blue eyes and tried to sound as innocent and persuasive as possible.

"Mari?" I asked, "Can we please go out for lunch?"

"No" Mari said trying not to make eye contact, " You kids always try to run away."

"I promise we will be back before 2:00. Please?" I said in my cutest child's voice.

"Fine, but don't get any idea's" she said pointing at Leo.

"Oh and can we take Nico?" I asked trying to quickly before she could change her mind, "We want him to have at least two friends here. It will be good for him."

"Alright, you can." she said giving up, " He is in room 26."

"Thank you, Maria!" I said, calling her by her full name. I guess she liked that better, because she smiled. We walked to the room and knocked. Nico showed up at the door. He still had his head down.

"Hey, Nico. I am Rachel, it's nice to meet you." I said, "We were wondering if you want to go to lunch with us?"

"Where?" he asked sheepishly.

"McDonald," I said, "It's a fast food place."

"Ok, thank for inviting me." Nico said shyly. We went down the stairs and out the doors waving to Maria.

We called a cab and got in. "Where to?" the cab driver asked.

"The nearest McDonald's please." I sat in the middle seat, with Nico and Leo on either side of me. After five minutes, we were at McDonald's. Leo opened the doors for me and Nico, like always. Such a gentleman. We sat in a corner booth and started deciding what to get. Then a man appeared in the corner of my eye. I turned to look at him, but he was gone. I looked around for him wondering if it was just my mind playing tricks on me.

"You OK?" Leo asked looking around also.

"It's nothing" I lied, still trying to find the man. Then the figure appeared again in the corner of my eye, but this time it was a woman, with wings?!